Cruising a Superhighway Built for Bikes: “Imagine a world where a safe, usable bike route between neighboring towns isn’t good enough because there are stoplights interrupting it. That world is the Netherlands, where such “inadequacies” are recognized and responded to with full-throated government support. That’s how they build projects like the RijnWaalpad, an 11-mile cycling highway that sails between the southeastern cities of Arnhem and Nijmegen without a single stop.”

Being Hear – Preventing the all-consuming sound pollution of modern life starts with listening to nature: “At once a profile, a guided meditation and a call to action, Being Hear follows Hempton as he records sounds on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula – a National Park that contains the continental United States’ only rainforest. Combining Hempton’s measured words with striking scenes and sounds of the park’s lush vegetation, rippling waters and diverse animal life, the film suggests that ensuring that parts of nature remain untouched by human sound starts with us listening attentively and with intention.”

Best Places To Be Alone In Los Angeles: “Los Angeles is a massive city, where millions of residents shuffle from one place to the next and hustle to pay exorbitant rents. The proliferation of health-oriented activities and services in the city is sometimes a huge help, but often they’re massively popular and packed with people—a.k.a. the opposite of relaxing. So where do you go when you need some time away from your hectic life and all the people within it?”

Nick Hummingbird of Hahamongna Native Plant Nursery: The Hahamongna Native Plant Nursery, located in Pasadena’s Hahamongna Watershed Park is only two years old, but the watershed is ancient. “I utilize my culture to teach people. I don’t tell them all our secrets, because there’s always room for exploitation, [but] I teach them a little bit so that they bring the plant and put it in their yard, and it opens up a door. They see the hummingbird come, and then they may use that plant for a tea or something and it works for them, and then they want to learn more. I call it the gateway drug – the gateway plants to the rest of the plants.”

About

AHBE LAB is a forum for exploration, inquiry, and collaboration. It is a place to share who we are, what inspires us, what we are dreaming about. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into our design process.